String Lights and Stuttering
by Taro Tanaka
Summary: A short story for Christmas. On Masaomi's invitation, Mikado, Masaomi and Anri head out for their own celebration of Christmas. Implied Mikado x Anri. Enjoy!


_"Ryuugamine-kun...is there something that you're wishing for...?"_

_"A wish...?"_

_When he thought back on it, he hadn't really had one._

_He didn't have anything in particular that he wanted for Christmas, therefore it was only natural that he had never thought about something like a Christmas wish. Sure.. More than anything he had hoped for a respite from his everyday life, yet that hardly seemed like the sort of wish she was asking about. And even if it had been, he couldn't voice that to Anri._

_But...if he were to put forth an effort into thinking about it and had to come up with a reason―if he had to say that he had really wished for something in certainty to happen for him at the time..._

_At that particular moment..._

_It would have been that he wished for the courage to cross those last ten centimeters._

**60-Storey Street, Christmas Day**

"So um...things tend to get really busy around the holidays here, don't they? I was starting to think that maybe it was beginning to get to me too..."

He spoke in a tone so soft it wasn't discernible whether he had been speaking to himself, or to girl walking next to him.

"Before I left I was thinking about maybe grabbing a scarf since I heard it would be sort of chilly out...but I forgot to get it when I was leaving, so now I'm sort of regretting that.."

"Eh?"

Things had been rather quiet between them, so she had allowed her thoughts to drift. She who had been looking around the whole time and when questioned, began to look rather alarmed beneath those glasses.

"Ah...um...I-I'm sorry―"

"Busy? Just busy? That's an understatement. Things aren't just busy! They're downright dangerous! The holidays around here can turn out to be terrifying if you aren't careful where you step. But yeah. Christmas is a pretty big deal around here. Not that it's widely-celebrated for the intended purpose, but there are a lot of things to get yourself into when it starts coming around. But that said, the crowds can be scary. Really scary! Especially around the department stores.. But if worst comes to worst a shopping cart flipped upside down can form a cage that I can use to protect myself from throttling consumerism!"

"'Throttling consumerism'?"

Stars had already begun to flicker in the sky, and in comparison to streets immersed with the holiday spirit, the lights in the sky were very much weaker.

Besides places like bars and such, most of the shops had already closed, with their metal shutters down. The crowds had begun to thin out and cars had already begun driving down the normally pedestrian-filled roads, coalescing to form an atmosphere that was completely unlike that of the day.

On the street near the train station, there were employees of a karaoke lounge and hawkers looking to pull in potential customers from the streets. But naturally most of these people had already decided where they wanted to go and gradually began to cluster off, disappearing from the street group after group as such.

Late-night drunkards, housewifes looking to take care of their last minute shopping, couples looking to admire the holiday lights and youngsters with goals of partying and celebrating their own ideas of Christmas could all be found in tonight's holiday crowd. Although it couldn't quite compare with the atmosphere of the day, there were indeed quite a few people walking around at night.

And amidst that crowd was also a small group of high school students.

Three particularly, who seemed to have been looking for a way to spend their holiday.

Ryuugamine Mikado, Kida Masaomi and Sonohara Anri.

The three of them originally hadn't any plans for how they would spend Christmas, though on Masaomi's invitation, had ultimately agreed to enjoy the festivities together.

Mikado sighed, his breath billowing out like puffs of steam into the dry, wintry air.

"Could you even throttle something like consumerism?"

"Chitsu, chitsu, chitsu, Mikado's really dumb. Taking something like a small joke so literal and down to heart. The only thing I have plans for throttling would be you because with that I would no longer have anything standing in my way, thus allowing Anri to become my girlfriend. OK?"

"Eh?"

"Ah, no, no. With a crime like that there's no way I wouldn't be found out. If I have to do away with you a better idea would be to maybe try shipping you off to another country. Then...there's the possibility you could try to come back... Maybe it would be best to poison your tea.. But then again only a true romantic knows how to break the rules for the right reasons. We wanted the freedom to love. We wanted the freedom to choose. Now is the time to fight for it!"

"Doesn't that seem a little ironic?"

Unsure as to what exactly his friend had been rattling off about, Mikado titled his head.

Masaomi, who had been blabbering nonsense, flashed Mikado a bright grin and said:

"Mikado's probably realized that by now he's really in love with Anri, right?"

"Eh?" "Eh?"

Mikado and Anri asked in unison, their faces both turning the same peachy shade of pink.

They both gave one another a swift glance before tearing away, eyes locked onto the pavement beneath their feet.

Mikado had a crush on Anri. He never spoke about it, but anyone who knew them both seemed to already know. They were usually regarded as a couple.

―Except neither Mikado nor Anri were aware of it.

From the way that they saw things, they were nothing more than just good friends.

And unlike Masaomi who hadn't any morals concerning things like love―Mikado hadn't yet mustered up the courage needed in order for him to voice his feelings to Anri.

The way he saw things, it was like Anri and his hearts had a distance between them. Not the kind of distance that once would associate with them just not being familiar enough with one another, but a relatively small distance. The kind that only a gentle blow or light nudge could bridge and bring both ends together.

It was as though their hearts had been placed ten centimeters apart.

And no matter how hard Mikado had tried to think of how he could bridge that gap, he had never been able to do so.

"N-N-N-No! I-It's nothing like that! I-I'm not―she's not―w-we're not―!"

"R...Ryuugamine-kun and I are just good friends..."

Mikado felt his shoulders slack, and Masaomi was momentarily rendered speechless.

After a few seconds of silence and staring at the awkward couple before him, his face split into it's usual grin and he chimed:

"Mikado's really an idiot."

"Huh?"

"Dude, if you can't see the lameness in that kind of response then that just proves it and makes you look even lamer. Like a double-hit. Really. At times like this a real man would have already swept her off her heels, taken that shot and won. We're at the age where we indiscriminately want to do everything from holding hands to things more intimate than that and in the buff and even then you still don't have the stones to ask a girl out."

"T-That's mean!"

**In a café inside of a department store in Ikebukuro**

After walking around for a good while, Mikado, Anri and Masaomi had decided to stop for a break in a nearby store. It was a store popular amongst the other youth in the city, and since the three of them had begun to feel peckish, they had decided to stop to eat before parting ways and returning to their homes.

Though as it seemed just as they had been seated, Masaomi had mentioned forgetting to pick up something when they had been out shopping―and just as swiftly as they had entered, he had vanished, leaving Mikado and Anri to wait for his return.

Mikado and Anri had decided upon waiting for Masaomi before placing their orders, as they figured he would only be a while.

So they sat across from each other.

Quietly.

Occasionally looking up, but not quite finding the words that either of them could hope to convey.

Fluidity in conversation had never been a strong point in either of them, so both had trouble with breaking through the thin barrier that lay between them.

"So...um..." Mikado was the first to try and break the ice.

"I...wonder what it was that caused Kida-kun to leave so quickly...It must have been something important for him to walk out like he did..."

"Yes..."

"And today was really nice...I had a lot of fun going out with you and Kida-kun..."

"Y-Yes...I had fun too..."

Anri gave a small nod to Mikado who was struggling to search for topics in his brain.

—Ehh...I really can't think of anything to say...

Mikado inwardly sighed, silence permeating the air around them like thick fog.

It was at times like this that he had wished Masaomi was here to help him pick up the slack, but since he was preoccupied with whatever the situation was that had caused to him to leave, he was on his own.

They didn't really have anything else to talk about, which was pretty awkward, so Anri, who had been turning something over in her hands, opened her mouth to speak.

"...Wish."

"Eh?"

"Cheers and wishing you a very Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year. Best wishes."

It took a moment for him to register that Anri was looking down at a piece of bright red plastic in her hands, presumably the menu of all of the drinks and desserts that were only available for a limited amount of time, and was probably reciting a line of text from the inside.

Anri seemed to be smiling to herself and looked up, her vision tinged with nostalgia.

"Ryuugamine-kun...is there something that you're wishing for...?"

"A wish...?"

When he thought back on it, he hadn't really had one.

He didn't have anything in particular that he wanted for Christmas, therefore it was only natural that he had never thought about something like a Christmas wish. Sure...More than anything he had hoped for a respite from his everyday life, yet that hardly seemed like the sort of wish she was asking about. And even if it had been, he couldn't voice that to Anri.

But...if he were to put forth an effort into thinking about it and had to come up with a reason―if he had to say that he had really wished for something in certainty to happen for him at the time...

At that particular moment...

It would have been that he wished for the courage to cross those last ten centimeters.

Just as he was about to respond, the girl lowered her head as if in apology.

"I-I'm sorry...that was sort of sudden for a question wasn't it...? As for me—I don't even know what I'm going to do now, let alone what I plan to do for the future...A person like me believing in something like wishes...That would be a little funny, wouldn't it..."

The first snow fell in her laughter, and for a moment Mikado thought that there couldn't have been a girl prettier than the girl who was in front of him now.

"I don't think there's anything wrong with not knowing about the future."

"If you always knew what was going to happen and had everything figured out from the beginning then there wouldn't really be any room for experiencing new things. In my opinion, I don't think there's really anything bad with not having your life completely figured out yet. You've got plenty of time to figure things out, so if anything just take things day by day until the day you do find the answer."

He, after spilling everything that had been on his mind, withdrew his head and began to regret it greatly. Perhaps it had been because they'd hit it off, and he'd been getting more tense as they'd talked and that was why he had spoken the thoughts he would usually keep to himself. He had felt that he had said too much, and that maybe he had managed to upset Anri.

Mikado glanced up at Anri, and to his surprise she didn't seem angry or upset with him.

Instead she gave him a smile that could make even the coldest of winters seem like the warmth in mid-April.

"Yes...you're right...Thank you so much."

On seeing her give him that kind of smile, Mikado's cheeks flushed, and for a moment he couldn't find his words.

"N-No, don't mention it...Um..."

He thought about the question, before opening his mouth to speak again.

"Do you...have something that you're wishing for, Sonohara-san?"

Behind thick glasses, her eyes widened. And she gave a small nod of her head.

Mikado wanted to ask what it was that she had wished for, yet he hadn't wanted to seem intrusive and had opted not to. But before he could try and switch the topic, Anri gave a meek, almost inaudible reply.

"Though...my wishes are the kind of things that should be so obvious that you would wonder why I was spending my time talking about them anyway..."

His heart seemed to sway, and for a moment he was almost certain she had been blushing.

They had both looked at each other's expression, but as their gazes almost crossed, they quickly averted them.

It had been well over twenty minutes.

Twenty-five.

Thirty.

Once Mikado and Anri had figured out that Masaomi probably wouldn't be back for a good while they concluded that they should order quickly and finish up so as to avoid being reprimanded for loitering around.

**60-Storey Street, 11 pm**

Streams of dark shadow inclined from 60-Storey Street, and the streets were dyed in the color of the Christmas lights.

Mikado and Anri, who had not yet met back up with Masaomi, were standing in front of a Christmas tree. One that shone so brightly, it seemed to be illuminating the city in a light different from that of it's usual brightness.

The boy smiled to himself, and he looked to the girl, to find that she was doing the same.

"It's...really something isn't it?"

The scenario didn't really require conversation, yet since Mikado had though it would be weird if they didn't say anything, he decided to speak instead.

"Yeah...It is..."

Anri looked down, her expression suddenly somewhat vexed.

"I wonder where Kida-kun ran off too though...He never met back with us..."

"Who knows? He is Kida-kun. And knowing from experience, for all we know, he could have completely forgotten about us and already gone home. That or he could have just lost interest and ran off to go pick up girls."

Saying that, Mikado grinned to himself and Anri laughed softly.

"Ryuugamine-kun..."

"Y-Yes? Sonohara-san...?"

Anri looked up, a sheepish smile painted on her lips.

"Thank you...you and Kida-kun...For inviting me out to spend time with the both of you today. I don't to get the opportunity to get out much, and I had a lot of fun with the both of you."

"Yes...of course! Um...don't mention it..."

Timidly, he scratched at the space behind his ear.

He was certain his face was red, and that knowledge only caused his chest to tighten even more.

Swallowing his present anxieties and strengthening his resolve, Mikado deeply inhaled, tightening his fists as he opened his mouth to speak:

"S-So...Sonohara-san..."

"...Y-Yes...? What is it...?"

Mikado's face shone bright red.

Either from his embarrassment, or the fact that he had been coincidentally holding his breath.

Taking another breath, Mikado tightened his abdominals, and said:

"M...Merry Christmas, Sonohara-san..."

For a moment she had been taken by surprise. But she gave a swift nod and gave him the smile of an angel.

"Thank you, Ryuugamine-kun...Merry Christmas."

Anri and Mikado were just about to go their separate ways and had turned their backs to one another, when the exuberant voice of the friend they had only just been speaking about had resounded in their ears, causing them both to jump and turn back around.

"Anriiiiiii! Mikadoooo!"

"K-Kida-kun?!"

Masaomi was steadily approaching them, waving his arms frantically over his head.

And in his hands...

"M-Mistletoe?"

Masaomi stopped in front of the two, the corners of his lips turning up into a playful grin.

"That's right~! What's Christmas without the mistletoe and kissing cute girls? But it seems like Mikado already beat me to the punch."

"Eh?"

"Ahhh...You won't believe how hard it is to find a place that sells mistletoe in Tokyo. Sorry I'm late! But it would seem that in my absence that the inevitable has happened. Rubbing shoulders, cozying up to one another underneath the Christmas tree—wouldn't surprise me if you two already had a Christmastime kiss from the way things are accelerating here."

"E-Eh...?"

"W-Wha—N-No! That's not what we were trying to do at all! We didn't do any of those things!"

"Huh?"

Masaomi blinked, his smirk only widening.

"But...your hands."

"Eh?" "Eh?"

Mikado and Anri parroted one another once again.

The two of them both looked down at their hands, but found nothing unusual. At first the both of them had thought that maybe the other had taken hold of their hand before they could realize, yet when they both looked down, there had been nothing—though both had retracted their hands before either could have realized whether or not there had been something.

However when they had both realized this, Masaomi had already brought his face close to Anri's.

"From the bottom of my heart, it's my absolute Christmas wish for me to receive but a tender kiss from my beloved Anri, underneath the mistletoe!"

—Eh?

"Um...I...I don't really think that I..."

—...Eh? What?!

"Hmm? Getting something like a kiss from a girl like Anri would be no less than a dream made manifest. What do you say? Mistletoe?"

—What is he doing?! Don't tell me the entire reason he was gone was just to get something like mistletoe—and for this kind of purpose?!

—Has she even agreed to kiss him?! No way...He couldn't have possibly been gone all this time just for a reason like that one...

—Cheating! This isn't playing fair, Kida-kun! Using something like mistletoe to reach your goals is no less than cheating!

Mikado could no longer hold himself back.

"OWWW!"

With well-executed precision and the swiftness of an athlete, Mikado sent his foot flying into the muscle of the back of Masaomi's leg.

And it was with that, that Christmas in Ikebukuro had come to a close.

Though...

Even if it had been just for a passing moment...

Or even if it was something that could have been easily caught by a passing glance.

Something that wasn't gratuitous, nor something that was completely unknown.

Mikado felt that somehow...

That even if it had only lasted for small fraction of time...He felt that maybe...

He had been able to cross those last ten centimeters.

END


End file.
